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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The first full-length collaboration between Ella and Louis turned out just as sublime as one would imagine. Recorded in 1956, this historic LP finds them serenading each other with Cheek to Cheek; Isn't This a Lovely Day?; Can't We Be Friends?; Moonlight in Vermont; Tenderly , and more.

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What we have here is the mating of honey and molasses. Or is it the sound of melted butter over gravel? Never mind--sweeter, more joyous music has never been recorded (although the follow-up, Ella and Louis Again, may be even better). You can't listen to these two without smiling. It's such an inevitable pairing that you wonder what titanic forces of nature could have kept Ella and Satchmo apart until they made this record together in 1957, accompanied by the Oscar Peterson trio and Buddy Rich on drums. The songs are standards--extraordinary standards, of course, like "Moonlight in Vermont" and "A Foggy Day"--but nirvana is reached on "Cheek to Cheek." Heaven. --Jim Emerson

Top customer reviews

This review is for the Ella & Louis LP. The only difference from the CD version is the wonderful soundstage and extra natural 'timbre' and 'warmth' that a great LP can provide.

The song selection and recording quality of the "Ella & Louis" LP is far far above most LP's out there today. The recording is warm and filled with feeling and the selection of songs shows the indescribable warmth and dynamic that the two have together. It is one of the best recorded LPs I have heard.

The LP is an absolute must have for anyone who likes Jazz, Ella or Louis, or truely great music in general.

If you were wondering if you should get this LP, don't hesitate. Just buy it. It is destined to be a classic and I recommend that you get it before people realize how great the LP is and it becomes in short supply.

By the way, this Ella & Louis LP (the one where the cover shows Louis with 'wader' pants pulled up by sitting in a chair and 1950's white socks showing) is much better recorded than the double "Together by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong" LP with a blue toned cover which although not bad, sounds a little lean and digital, and is lacking depth in comparison.

In any rational list of the 20th-century's top song-stylists, Ella Fitzgerald would have to rank in the Top 5. Ella had a wonderful, distinct voice and style. Many singers have great skills. Many have perfect pitch and great intonation. But very few singers can use their voice like a fine instrument. Ella was one of those select few.

Apart from having a wonderful voice, Ella was next to incomparable when it came to interpreting lyrics. It is no wonder that lyricists loved her and were ecstatic when she covered one of their songs. It is also no wonder that during the course of her career Ella recorded various "Song Books" in which she took the work of a great composer/lyricist and dedicated an album or two to their work. Ella did Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Rodgers & Hart, the Gershwins', and Jerome Kern song books among others. They are all wonderful to listen to, all 5-star performances (with the possible exception of the Gershwin song book) but my favorite of all her song books is this one: "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book".

Although the first half of the 20th century had a surplus of great songwriters (see the above) there was something about Cole Porter's work that has kept his lyrics fresh and even edgy in the 21st-century. The pairing of Fitzgerald and Porter then is the equivalent of the perfect storm: A lyricist whose lyrics are funny, witty, charming and, yes, poetic; and a singer capable of doing justice to those great lyrics makes for a memorable CD.

This is a 2-CD set. It contains an awful lot of Porter's great songs. Anything Goes, Too Darn Hot, Let's Do it, and I'm Always True to You in My Fashion are my highlights for CD-1. Night and Day, I've Got You Under My Skin, Love for Sale, and You're the Top, top off CD-2. Ella recorded these in 1956 under the auspices of the wonderful producer Norman Granz. Verve Records has restored the masters and the sound quality is excellent for a re-mastered recording.

Cole Porter once said that "In olden days a glimpse of stockings, was looked on as something shocking, Now heaven knows, anything goes." Well, all these decades later these songs go great with anything. You can enjoy them "in the still of the night" or "all through the night". These songs "do something to me" and I can say nothing more than this CD is the tops, it's the Tower of Pisa, it's the smile on the Mona Lisa.

If you can find this available, do yourself a favor and buy it, then sit back and enjoy.

I'm a novice to the jazz world, but I discovered this album a few months ago while listening to a Pandora station. "Isn't This a Lovely Day" started playing, and I literally stopped what I was doing to listen to the song the whole way through--and then promptly came to Amazon and bought the album. It's still my favorite song on the album, so intimate and romantic.

But the whole album is a joy. Whoever came up with the idea of pairing these two singers was a genius. Louis's roughness is the perfect balance to Ella's smoothness--in fact when I hear Ella sing solo, I keep waiting for Louis to chime in to make her that tiny bit better. (Not that she's not wonderful on her own.) And they are both in perfect control and yet having fun, too.

If you're a novice like me, I can't think of a better album to start your collection with. Listen and feel the joy.

This is a recording that shows Ella and Louis at their best. They perform so effortlessly, so enchantingly. Armstrong shows his lack of formal schooling in a couple of passages by singing "have a sigh" instead of "heave a sigh", for example, or "wheat from the shaft" instead of "chaff", but they only highlight his genius in his music; his faulty grammar is ephemeral. Ella and Louis show a profound respect for each other by blending, not competing with each other. No matter what my mood, I feel uplifted when I listen to these musical geniuses. Their sense of melody is the modern day version of Franz Schubert's melodic genius. This recording is a classic.

I purchased this as the result of the reviews here on Amazon, and have never regretted it (and then I purchased more copies to give as gifts). What a joy to be introduced to Porter's music by an artist like Fitzgerald!

I love this album! What can I possibly add that has not been said thousands of times by millions of fans? This is a fun and finger snapping album that covers a broad range of songs. Try it you’ll like it!